Ovarian cancer kills approximately 15,000 women in the United States every year, and more than 140,000 women worldwide. Most deaths from ovarian cancer are caused by tumors of the serous histological type, which are rarely diagnosed before the cancer has spread.

In order to better understand the early natural history and to guide rational design of an early detection strategy for these cancers, Patrick Brown and colleagues from Stanford University developed models for the growth, progression, and detection of these cancers, in order to define what properties a biomarkerbased screening test would require in order to be clinically useful.

Funding This work was funded by the Canary Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation
“The Preclinical Natural History of Serous Ovarian Cancer Defining the Target for Early Detection.”
Brown PO, Palmer C (2009)
PLoS Med 6(7) e1000114. doi10.1371/journal.pmed.1000114